Northwestern State track and field coach Leon Johnson, right, with NSU athletic director Greg Burke, left, retired after 31 years on Tuesday.

Written by

Jeff Matthews
Louisiana Gannett

If you're into numbers, Leon Johnson compiled some impressive ones in his three decades as a track and field coach at Northwestern State.

He coached 57 All-Americans, three NCAA champions and two U.S. Olympians. Nine times his teams won conference titles. Eight times he was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year.

But the most important number to those who know him best can't be so easily quantified. No one can say exactly how many athletes Johnson pushed to be the best they could on and off the track, but none of them have forgotten him. ...